HIGHEST RATED IMDB FILMS OF BOLLYWOOD SUPERSTARS : WHO IS THE BEST?

according to imdb career wise, its AAMIR KHAN number 1 at 84% , followed by HRITHIK 65%, SHAHRUKH At 61%, akshay 40% and SALMAN at the last with 29%

aamir khan 10/60 films rated below 6/10 which means 16% crap films and 84% good films

http://www.imdb.com/filmosearch?role=nm0451148&explore=title_type&sort=user_rating%2Cdesc&mode=detail&page=2&title_type=movie&ref_=filmo_nxt

HRITHIK 13/40 films rated below 6/10 which means 32% crap films and 68% good films

http://www.imdb.com/filmosearch?role=nm0004335&explore=title_type&sort=user_rating,desc&mode=detail&page=1&title_type=movie&ref_=filmo_ref_typ

shahrukh khan 38/98 films rated beow 6/10 which means 39% crap films and 61% good films

http://www.imdb.com/filmosearch?role=nm0451148&explore=title_type&sort=user_rating%2Cdesc&mode=detail&page=2&title_type=movie&ref_=filmo_nxt

akshay kumar 77 films out of 127 films rated below 6/10. which means 60% crap films and 40% good films

http://www.imdb.com/filmosearch?role=nm0474774&explore=title_type&sort=user_rating%2Casc&mode=detail&page=2&title_type=movie&ref_=filmo_nxt

SALMAN KHAN 75 films below 6/10 out of 106 films which means 71% crap films in career and 29% good films.

http://www.imdb.com/filmosearch?role=nm0006795&explore=title_type&sort=user_rating%2Casc&mode=detail&page=1&title_type=movie&ref_=filmo_ref_typ

BOI : RELIABLE OR JUST ANOTHER ANONYMOUS BLOG ?

Ever since the late 2000s, there has been controversy over the Box office figures for Bollywood movies. There are so many blogs out there , mostly anonymous who claim to have their own "sources" . The most popular among them is a site called "BoxOfficeIndia.com (BOI). There are online fans who swear by their numbers and question the Official numbers which are printed in Media and newspapers. But does the website itself swear by its numbers and authenticity? A little investigation reveals a lot:

Here is what BOI has to say about its "accuracy"

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT BOX OFFICE INDIA AND ITS AFFILIATES DO NOT CONTROL, REPRESENT OR ENDORSE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR RELIABILITY OF ANY OF THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE WEB SITE AND OTHER USER AND MEMBER GENERATED PAGES AND THAT ANY OPINIONS, ADVICE, STATEMENTS, SERVICES, OFFERS OR OTHER INFORMATION OR CONTENT PRESENTED OR DISSEMINATED ON THE WEB SITE OR ON ANY OTHER USER OR MEMBER GENERATED PAGES ARE THOSE OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AUTHORS WHO ARE SOLELY LIABLE FOR THEIR CONTENT. BOX OFFICE INDIA AND ITS AFFILIATES RESERVE THE RIGHT, IN THEIR SOLE DISCRETION, TO EDIT, REFUSE TO POST OR REMOVE ANY MATERIAL SUBMITTED TO OR POSTED ON THE WEB SITE OR ON ANY OTHER USER OR MEMBER GENERATED PAGES.

http://boxofficeindia.com/content.php?pagekey=disclaimer

A blog which itself doesnt standby its numbers for any kind of accuracy cannot be depended upon as a trustworthy source.

Sure, the Indian Box Office is a chaos where numbers are not digitally tracked like Box Office Mojo and hence what every trade site gives are their own "estimates" from their "sources". But the most important part to investigate here is whether these "trade peopele" have any authenticity or even an Office? There are trade sites like BollywoodHungama.com which leads to their corporate adrress as follows:

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/index/contact

Besides this website has many regional offices and names and addresses of the people who can actually be contacted and verified.

There is another popular trade site called koimoi.com. Their contact address is as follows:

http://www.koimoi.com/contact-us/

Again, this one leads to an actual Office address and contact persons

Now have a look at BOI contact details:

http://boxofficeindia.com/content.php?pagekey=contact_us

Nothing except three email ids which are completely anonymous. No address for office, no regional offices, no contact persons named.The wbsite is run from USA by apparently some anonymous PR people who dont wish to be named. Have a look

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/boxofficeindia.com

Commentary is the lesser problem of BOI. their biggest problem are the numbers. everything revolves around them. they have imaginary budgets for stars they support and stars they are against. and then they give their own numbers which are very different for different stars. and then they give their verdict and commentary based on them. the root cause are their dodgy numbers. accusing their commentary is like deliberately ignoring their dodgy numbers

the reason why boi is not popular in real world and will never be popular is bcos of their anonymity . no one has the slightest clue who operates it and from where. they have no names of ppl who head it, their contacts and addresses. there is no face that stands for BOI. and then their dodgy numbers which are very low for non khans and high for khans and their agendiac commentaries. compared to this, sites like koimoi or bwhungama provide a fair assessment to almost all films without being too harsh or too lenient. and they have a proper office address, journalist with names and faces and business correspondents. all this adds crediblity to a trade site

My All Time Favourite Martial Arts Fight Moves

The Corkscrew Kick: Not just a flashy or visually pleasing kick, its impact is lethal. It is meant to hit the opponent on the neck. The fighter is supposed to take a flight like a butterfly kick or a 720 and then impact the opponent right on the neck. no need to explain further what would it result in Wing Chun Punching: The most lethal form of punching in a close combat situation. The idea is not to give the opponent a chance to recover with continuous attacking and defending simultaneously Parkour/Free Running : No fight especially a one-vs-many is ever complete without parkour. Its a must. A single person cant beat multiple opponents by staying in the middle even if he has the best ground technique in the world. The idea should be to scatter the gang by employing parkour so that only 2-3 people can catch you at a time and they can be dealt with by some basic fighting techniques The Ninjutsu multiple attacker takedown: Ninjutsu is arguably the most effective martial arts ever. the most practical form of fighting alongwith krav maga especially while fighting 2 or more attackers.Vidyut Jamwal oftens uses this technique in his movies Dim Mak/ Pressure Point : One of the most (once considered a myth) scientific moves in martial arts by attacking pressure points in the body. Maximum result with minimum effort. This technique was shown in Kamal Hasans Hindustani/Indian

Top 5 Terrible Movie Dialogues

Here is a pick of my top 5 terrible and the most ridiculous movie dialogues in hindi films. I was spoilt for choice for this topic as there are so many of them. So i chose them based on how pathetic they were in the context of the scene Katrina Kaif( Yuraj ): " Tum ek hardcore anti-famly man ho" Hrithik Roshan (kites) : " I had a dream, you had a dream, now we have a bigger dream" (watch from 6:52) Shahrukh Khan (Kuch Kuch hota hai): Hum ek baar jeete hain, ek baar marte hain, shaadi bhi ek baar hoti, pyaar bhi ek baar hota hai" Akshay Kumar (Boss) : "Apne ko to sirf paani nikalna hai" (almost sounds as if he wants to give someone a BJ and wants a facial) Aamir Khan (Dhoom 3) : "Bande hain hum uske , humpe kiska zor"

My Favourite Training Scene Montage in Movies

From international films: Jean Claude Van Damme ( Bloodsport) Jackie Chan ( Fearless Hyena) Sylvester Stallone ( Rocky 4) Scott Adkns/ Marko Zaror ( Undisputed 3) Gordon Liu (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin) Jet Lee ( The Shaolin Temple) From Bollywood: Vidyut Jamwal ( Commando) Aamir Khan ( Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander) Ajay Devgun (Jigar) watch from 5:30

My top ten choreographed fight scenes

Tom Yum Goong : Bone Breaking spree

 


 Ipman 1 : Dojo Fight

 

 The Raid Redemption : First Hallway Fight

 

 Fist of Fury : Dojo Fight

 

 Oldboy : Corridor Fight

 

 Tom yum Goong: Warehouse Fight

 

 Ninja : Shadow of a Tear : Bar fight

 

Blood and Bone : Final fight

 

 Game of Death : Bruce Lee vs Kareem Abdul jabbar

 

Ong Bak : Climax Fight

How Fake Action cringes the discerning viewer

Movie stars ,like any brand ,have a particular identity that is fostered and sold to the audience as what makes them distinct and somehow ‘better’ than all competing brands. In the case of action stars their brands are built to a VERY large degree on the base of “We really do this stuff".If you see it on screen, it’s because someone really did it.” That’s what adds that extra bit of thrill to their work, because they are really laying their bodies on the line.

But since the inception of VFX into films and action in particular , quite a few wannabes take themselves too seriously as "action heroes" just to get that USP which was attached historically to the legendary martial artist actors.The first film which probably did this was matrix in 1999 and since then it has been done to death in just about every small and big ticket film in the west and east . The technology has been milked for all its worth so much as so that it has barely any novelty or wow factor left. Worse, it had made the actors delusional and lazy. For an action enthusiast it can be very insulting to see a wannabe action star pretending to be macho and cool while his body language is laughably bad. Most of these actors are not even aware of basic aerial techniques or even human motion physics , forget about actually doing them properly.

Experts /ppl with martial arts background can of course analyse and detect such fake action in detail  but even a discerning viewer with his common sense and basic human physics can make out the shoddiness when VFX is used in both hollywood and bollywood films.

Here's How:

1) One of the most common sequence is when the hero makes a front leap to attack. You can tell everything about the move from the actors body language. Practically when a traceur makes  front leap, the body is always hunched with the knees slightly bent and the legs will ALWAYS point forwards. This kind of position brings his entire body weight near his centre of mass and therefore the person can cover a really long distance. Also the legs point forward in the direction of the momentum of the body which enhances the speed of the leap.

Here is a scene from a typical South indian actioner singham where he is attempting a similar leap by using wires. The body is stiff and straight as its held by cables and the legs are in the exact opposite direction because he and his choreographer are simply ignorant or lazy to even care about how its done in real life.



Here is a similar leap by by akshay in KKK, vidyut in commando,  and by tony jaa in Ong bak. Check the body dynamics and the positioning of the legs.

2) Another common sequence is the roof run.It looks very thrilling and visually appealing when a traceur does it. Mostly used in chase scenes.
I remember one such chase sequence in dabangg. Salmans body language here is like those kids in shopping mall compounds attempting bungee trampolines. The scene on the left is from District 13 showing how the position should be while doing a roof run. It is similar to the forward leap just that the body will be more hunched towards the centre so that when you reach the ground , the point of contact of the surface area  of the body with the ground is minimal and thus the shock of falling can be resisted without any breakage of bones.

3) Almost all the aerial moves must finish with a roll over with the exception of butterfly kick and corkscrew. Now whether you do any kind of vault , leaps, there is no way you can stop the body movement without the roll over. 

This always reminds me of the krrish/dhoom  stunts by hrithik. When he done jumping like super mario on the buildings, he lands like tommy vercetti of GTA vice city . A human body can never stop without a proper roll over after a massive aerial move.Mostly the roll is over the head or shoulders. This is the safest and probably the only realistic  way to finish a grand aerial move.

4) The wall flip is spectacular to look at if done neatly . But equally cringeworthy when done by a wannabe using cables. Here is the still from dhoom 3 where kat is attempting a wall flip but look at her legs.she has compacted her whole body and the only reason why she remains suspended in the air in this ridiculous position is because she is held by wires. The other still is a similar wall flip done by vidyut in commando where the legs are apart and closer to the wall while the upper and lower half of his body take the shape of the letter "U". This results in safe landing because wallflip is basically a no-hand cartwheel done on the wall instead of the ground.

In case of the non-aerial action scenes, a very simple give way of wire work is when either the fight is fast forwarded or done in ultra slo-mo. Both look ridicuoulsly bad and are shot that way to hide the inabilites of the actor but the audience is inteligent enough to notice it.Those who can carry it off without wires will never go for these tricks .They will go for the real time motion.

Hunting the stunt double is also pretty easy. There will be lots of back shots or "hurried" camera movements.There will always be a minor difference in the physique and height. Another way is to chek if the actor himself is photoshopped during such scenes.in ETT salmans face was superimposed on a stunt double.Same with rajini in robot. 

Thnakfully the trend of such OTT fake action is on decline. People are bored of feeling like jackasses watching such nonsense in theatre after paying 200-300 rupees.It is about time the filmmakers realised it.

Bulandi (2000) : When panchayat becomes a penchant

Bulandi is one of my biggest guilty pleasure film  to date along with Clerk and Gaon humaara shaher tumhara. I have seen it multiple times, visited it recently  and each time it is just as enjoyable because there is so much to decipher in every scene. The film celebrates male chauvinism at danke ki chot and takes extreme pride in it in a very earnest way. It is about a thakur family which has a history of making disastrous decisions.

 Each time a thakur makes an entry on his ghoda -gaadi, there is an epic BMG which resembles the Bane chant from The dark knight rises. You have no option but to get mesmerised each time anil/rajni as thakur walks in slow motion . Rajnikant but naturally has more flair here. He doesnt light stick by rubbing it on match box but instead rubs the match box on the stick to light his cigar. Since that day i always lighted the match stick in my chemistry lab in same fashion. such is the impact of that scene. If during an argument in panchayat, someone doesnt agree with Rajni and tries to fight back, rajni just moves his gamcha and no one dares speak a word after it. The movement of gamcha on his shoulder signifies apocalypse. It is another matter that once the gamcha movement is over, then rajni is vulnerable and can be shot dead by a tamancha by ranjit.But during the godly moment of gamcha, he is invincible.

Dialogues are rejuvenating and always leave goosebumps in me.a sample scene is when  raveena plays a proud educated city girl and misbehaves with older  anil and anil explains her the dharm of an indian wife - "patni ka dharm hai ki pati ki daasi ban ke seva, kare,maa ke tarah use khilay pilyae". raveena calls rekha an uneducated women and rekha defends herself saying she is a graduate from alllahabad university (may be referring to amitabh here). It doesnt impress raveena all that much. Eventually Raveena starts respecting thakur family only when she gets a reality check of their bank accounts.Fair enough i suppose.

Shakti kapoor plays the villian and mostly he is semi nude in the film. he wears dhoti in the manner of speedos which looks pretty gross. He is banished from the village as he had raped a SC/ST woman 18 years ago. So in oldboy style, he counts each year by making a mark on his body with hot iron rod.

Like in all south films and in general with such unpretentious and enjoyable cheesy masala films, the senior actors become superheros as they get older. so harish (that small gay south hero of the 90s who debuted with karishma in prem qaidi) who is 20 years younger to shakti is no match for him but anil who is in late 50s has the aglity and strength that can put Micheal Jai white to shame.In the climax scene, during a fight , anil shows he is not just about the brawns. He turns a bullock cart into a maternity ward room .

In the tradition of thakur dynasty,they die only when they want to and same is the case with anil. But raveena has just given birth to a new legacy in the bullock cart turned maternity ward. Younger anil takes over as the next thakur with the bane chants and the legacy continues....


Full movie here:

Ramleela review: Trigger Dabane Ki Baat Mar Kar, Trigger Daba Daal

The film starts on Bhansali sets where there are lot of guns. A riot occurs between two groups of people in bhansali sets. Meanwhile Ranveer is introduced by Tattad Tattad song on another Bhansali sets. He has the facial look of Bhansali himself but the lower body is shaved like Salman of 90s. May be Bhansali always had a fetish for that kind of appearance. Then Supriya Pathak who is member of one of the groups is introduced on yet another Bhansali sets. She continues her Khichdi act from where she had left. In next scene, it is revealed that Ranvir is a porn film seller. and just after that the Slutty Savitri Deepika is introduced, this is not a co-incidence…..and yes, on yet another Bhansali set. She plays a Gujju but has accent of a vernacular M***i.

Its Holi so a song starts and Deepika has started doing what she did in BKB, LAK, Cockail, KCK, Yjhd, Lafangey Parindey, i.e. hititng on the hero in the first mulaqat. They are about to have sex too with the underlying idea that "Mor Apne Pankh Kholte Hain, Hum Kapde Kholte Hain". But as we know by now, having watched those Deepika films, she never gives the "happy ending". So not much happens except that at least this time she didn't shy from kissing without shitting in her panties unlike BAH and YJHD. Ecstatic and erect, Ranveer falls in a pond of water created in Bhansali's sets.

Then in the next set and scene, they are talking to each other rhyming words with the standards that can compete with the lyrics of Friday by Rebecca Black. Then there's the cheesiest of all dialogues – Deepika "Jigar Pe Mat Ja, Trigger Daba Doongi". Ranveer says "Daba Na". She replies "Chee". Jab Chee Hi Bolna Tha to Trigger Dabane Ki Baat Kari Hi Kyun? Trigger Dabana Hai To Daba Daal Warna Uski Baat Mat Kar. Either be complete slutty or complete Savitri. But then its Deepika Padukone. From here on this is Ishaqzaade Part 2 in Bhansali's sets. Ishqiya Dhishkiyaon song choreography reminds of Govinda-Karishma c-graders. The Police raid scene where police guy exchanges porn DVD with bullets is WTF. Ranveer kills Deepika's brother but lust wins over family bonding and now Deepika is desperate to marry Ranver otherwise "Dono Ek Hi Kamre Mein Kaise Reh Sakte Hain". Then after some more Ishaqzaade in Bhansali sets which can be fast forwarded if you are on torrent there is an Indra the Tiger type OTT sword fight scene of Ranveer. Then some more fast forward reveals that the end scene is also same as Ishaqzaade.

Commando Review 2013

Back in the 90s, in his films like KKK and Mohra, Akshay showed that Indian heroes can do the spinning back kicks and use the Nunchaku with as much ease as the Van Dammes . Vidyut takes that legacy forward and proves what Tony Jaa and Scott Adkins can do, he can do as well.

The introduction of Vidyut is nothing less than a celebration of his histrionics. This commando can do handstand pushups, one leg squats, spartan push ups with as much ease as walking in the garden. His intro fight is easily the best choreographed action sequence in Bollywood for a long time and matches the global standards of martial arts action. The ease with which he carries out his back flips, corkscrew kick, jumping through a car window and over it, vidyut makes all so-called action heroes Salman and Ajay look like school-going kids. People run on road, Vidyut runs on people!

But not everything is good about Commando. Pooja Chopra's role is quite irritating at points and she tries her best to ruin the film and is successful to some extent. But the Villain Jaideep Ahlawat makes up for her OTT acting. He is a supercool villain though personally i would have preferred a more evenly matched opponent for someone like Vidyut. The dialgues between them are good to okayish. As I always say, a good action film is one which keeps everything else simple but the action. Commando tries to take itself too seriously in the second half with some attempt at social messages which doesn't help the cause. There is an item song too and some typical filmy scenes added purely to make it look like a South Masala and that doesn't help. There are enough fight scenes for a normal movie goer but for an action lover, I believe there were less fight sequences. At least two more sequences could have been added in the second half instead of the nonsense of Pooja Chopra and the boring atrocities to her family.

I remember Aamir claiming Ghajini to push the envelope of action in Bollywood. It regressed us by 20 years and we had to face the wrath of a rather unhealthy trend of nonsensical South Masala remakes like SOS and Himmatwala. Commando is not entirely satisfying but its is a film that genuinely pushes the envelope of action in Hindi cinema. For this alone, the film deserves to be a success. My wish now is to see both Vidyut and Akshay in the same frame.